Scottish Executive

Audiology

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary 1 pupils in Angus attended community audiology clinics between September 2002 and August 2003.

Mr Andy Kerr: Monitoring attendance at community audiology clinics is an operational matter for NHS Tayside. The information requested is not held centrally.

Conservation of Seals Act 1970

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what considerations it takes into account when deciding whether to grant a licence under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 authorising the killing or taking of seals for the prevention of damage to fisheries and whether it requires an applicant for a licence to have attempted to use non-lethal means of seal deterrence first.

Lewis Macdonald: Applicants must provide evidence of serious damage occurring, or likely to occur, to the fishery. The type of evidence required includes regular seal count information, evidence of declining fish stocks and evidence of damaged fish in catches. Advice in respect of each application is sought from Fisheries Research Services, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Sea Mammals Research Unit.

  The application form for a licence requires the provision of details of non-lethal, anti-predation measures that have been used and why they are not considered sufficient.

Conservation of Seals Act 1970

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions it would normally attach to a licence granted under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 authorising the killing or taking of seals for the prevention of damage to fisheries.

Lewis Macdonald: Each licence issued specifies:

  The maximum number of seals of each species that may be shot, and that a return be made by a specified date recording the numbers actually shot (nil returns are required);

  The period during which seals may be shot;

  The location within which seals may be shot, and

  That any licence may be suspended or revoked, and surrendered to the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department immediately this revocation happens.

  In addition, a copy of the licence is sent to the police station from which the applicant, or his agent, obtained the necessary firearms certificate.

  A licence may be refused where an applicant or his agent has failed to comply with the terms of any previous licence.

Courts

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) small claims and (b) summary cause cases were presided over by a sitting sheriff in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of small claims and summary causes registered for each year since 1999 is shown in the following table.

  Sheriff Court National Figures

  

 
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04


Summary Cause Registered
36,704
39,655
41,360
37,131
35,096


Small Claims Registered
48,002
43,202
37,372
34,129
32,618

Crime

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) has been involved in immigration matters; whether its remit has been extended to include immigration, and what the remit of the (a) SDEA and (b) police is in respect of immigration and how these remits relate to the role of immigration officials.

Cathy Jamieson: In the SDEA’s 2003-04 annual report (copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre, Bib. number 33130), the director made clear that the SDEA would be taking action "across all aspects of serious and organised crime to meet the threats posed by increasingly diverse criminal networks" in line with the National Criminal Intelligence Service UK Threat Assessment and Scottish Strategic Assessment. These assessments have made clear the threat posed by immigration crime and the SDEA and Scottish police service have adopted a close joint working relationship with the UK Immigration Service in an effort to counter this.

  An example of the impact of this joint working was highlighted at the start of October 2004 following an operation in which the SDEA led a multi-agency taskforce (which included the UK Immigration Service, Lothian and Borders Police, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise, the Department of Work and Pensions and the Inland Revenue) to target the criminal activities of an organised criminal network involved in harbouring and facilitating illegal immigrants throughout Scotland. Of the 61 individuals arrested, 58 were detained in connection with suspected immigration offences. The other three people were detained on suspicion of being involved in what is termed gang master activity.

Dentistry

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the results of its review of the Scottish Dental Access initiative.

Rhona Brankin: Proposals on the future of the Scottish Dental Access Initiative will comprise part of the Executive’s response to the Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland consultation which we hope to make shortly.

Dentistry

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used when deciding which areas are "designated areas" in respect of grants and allowances for general dental practitioners.

Rhona Brankin: The only allowances which attract an additional payment where the dentist is in a "designated area" are the recruitment allowances. The "designated areas" were chosen because severe access problems were being experienced in the whole Board area, e.g. Borders, Highland, or because of remoteness, e.g. Orkney, Shetland, Campbeltown, Dunoon, Lochgilphead.

Discrimination

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what activities its Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department has engaged in to address homophobia in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what activities its Environment and Rural Affairs Department has engaged in to tackle homophobia in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what activities its Development Department has engaged in to tackle homophobia in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive firmly believes that there is no place in Scotland for homophobic prejudice or discrimination. Our Equality Strategy provides a framework for all departments to tackle prejudice and discrimination and promote equal opportunities.

  The Executive’s Equality Unit is working closely with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities to develop the Executive’s understanding of homophobia and facilitate consultation and engagement between all Scottish Executive departments and LGBT people. Funding has been provided to ensure that consultation and engagement continues.

  In addition:

  we are working in schools to address homophobic bullying, including:

  establishing and funding an anti-bullying network which addresses bullying, including homophobic bullying in schools;

  running an anti-bullying competition for schools, themed on anti-discrimination;

  tendering a project aimed at identifying and assessing the practices schools use when dealing with homophobic bullying as well as the extent of staff and pupil’s awareness in recognising homophobic behaviour;

  we have established an LGBT Education Forum where key stakeholders in the education and equality fields meet with Education Department officials to discuss LGBT issues in school education policy;

  we have funded an "Inclusion In LGBT Health" project which has gathered evidence and undertaken research to identify support needed by local NHS services to better meet the needs of the LGBT community. It is supporting demonstration projects in NHS board areas and delivering LGBT Health awareness-raising training. The project has become a fundamental part of the Health Department Equality and Diversity Approach;

  we are considering the report of an independent Working Group on Hate Crime set up to consider the most appropriate measures needed to combat crime based on hatred towards social groups. One of the group’s recommendations is for the introduction of a statutory aggravation for crimes motivated by malice or ill-will towards an individual based on their sexual orientation or transgender identity. The group, which included representatives from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, submitted its report in October 2004;

  we have undertaken a large scale research project looking at the position of Scotland’s LGBT communities and, in the coming year, the third stage of the project will examine local authority policies and practice in relation to LGBT people with a view to promoting good practice, and

  we have delivered a range of Scottish Parliament legislation which recognises same sex partners, helping to counter the discrimination that they face, including the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, and the Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001.

Domestic Abuse

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what activities it has engaged in to support those who experience domestic abuse in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) relationships in the last year and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive believes that all forms of violence are unacceptable and is aware of the issue of abuse within lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender relationships. We are discussing with LGBT organisations what work could be undertaken on this issue.

Education

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set in respect of school pupils learning to swim.

Peter Peacock: The primary responsibility for the delivery and management of swimming provision within the curriculum rests with local authorities.

  However, in 2002 an audit of swimming provision in schools was conducted in order to gather information on the level of provision for swimming lessons made by Scottish schools in 2001-02. In response to this report, the Scottish Executive commissioned Learning and Teaching Scotland to further investigate local authority provision for swimming and to identify barriers to swimming provision and suggest solutions to education authorities through good practice case studies. The report of this work will be published and distributed to education authorities in December 2004.

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) classroom assistants, (b) youth workers and (c) pre-school staff have been employed by each local authority in each year since 1997.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) careers service, (b) school-based administration, (c) cleaning and (d) catering staff have been employed by each local authority in each year since 1997.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) classroom assistants, (b) youth workers and (c) pre-school staff have been employed by each local authority at (i) local authority and (ii) school level in each year since 1997.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) careers service, (b) school-based administration, (c) cleaning and (d) catering staff have been employed by each local authority at (i) local authority and (ii) school level in each year since 1997.

Peter Peacock: Information on the numbers of classroom assistants and school-based administrative staff is contained in tables 5.10, 6.10 and 7.9 of the publication Teachers in Scotland 2003 , copies of which are available from Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33785). It can also be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00352-00.asp . Prior to 2003, the only available information on the numbers of classroom assistants employed by individual local authorities was contained in returns made to Scottish Executive Education Department in relation to the Excellence Fund. The answer to question S1W-14460, answered on 15 May 2001, contained figures covering the period 1999-2000 and 2000-01 and can be accessed at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search . Figures relating to 2001-02 are contained in the following table. No earlier data is available for other school based administrative staff. Details on pre-school staffing is only available for the past three years and is provided in the second table. Table 8.1 in Teachers in Scotland 2003 has figures for local authority centrally employed pre-school home visiting staff. Information about the numbers of youth workers, cleaners, catering staff and career service staff employed at local authority and school level are not held centrally.

  

Local Authority
Number of Classroom Assistants
2001-02


Aberdeen City
136.95


Aberdeenshire
205


Angus
80.9


Argyll and Bute
38


Clackmannanshire
28.6


Dumfries and Galloway
131.22


Dundee City
81.4


East Ayrshire
126.39


East Dunbartonshire
138


East Lothian
76


East Renfrewshire
100.26


Edinburgh, City of
295.22


Eilean Siar
5


Falkirk
116


Fife
228.59


Glasgow City
494


Highland
139.2


Inverclyde
106


Midlothian
72


Moray
78.5


North Ayrshire
148.5


North Lanarkshire
354


Orkney Islands
3.5


Perth and Kinross
59


Renfrewshire
185.6


Scottish Borders
32.67


Shetland Islands
7.06


South Ayrshire
137.43


South Lanarkshire
307


Stirling
52


West Dunbartonshire
97


West Lothian
167


All Scotland
4,227.99



  Number of Staff in Pre-School Education or Child Care by Local Authority: 2002-041

  

 
2002 Total
2003 Total
2004 Total


Aberdeen City
594
759
679


Aberdeenshire
543
563
570


Angus
223
193
213


Argyll and Bute
164
123
131


Clackmannanshire
201
188
187


Dumfries and Galloway
184
176
169


Dundee City
425
311
333


East Ayrshire
319
214
223


East Dunbartonshire
131
99
128


East Lothian
233
184
175


East Renfrewshire
181
152
177


Edinburgh, City of
1,154
943
870


Eilean Siar
10
24
22


Falkirk
359
291
310


Fife
864
831
859


Glasgow City
1,702
1,286
1,329


Highland
460
498
485


Inverclyde
210
132
155


Midlothian
202
208
190


Moray
153
120
150


North Ayrshire
321
240
220


North Lanarkshire
666
542
601


Orkney Islands
68
43
53


Perth and Kinross
184
165
249


Renfrewshire
422
300
341


Scottish Borders
253
204
215


Shetland Islands
55
59
79


South Ayrshire
192
180
168


South Lanarkshire
622
501
572


Stirling
243
221
271


West Dunbartonshire
311
212
281


West Lothian
386
321
384


Scotland
12,035
10,283
10,789



  Note: 1. Staff working in nurseries, playgroups, holiday play schemes, out of school care clubs, crèches and family centres.

  The results of the Quarterly Joint Staffing Watch survey cannot be disaggregated and variations in definitions can lead to differences between the Joint Staffing Watch figures and those published elsewhere.

Fuel Poverty

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals the Fuel Poverty Forum is considering in respect of the alleviation of fuel poverty.

Malcolm Chisholm: At present the Scottish Executive Fuel Poverty Forum is not considering any proposals for the alleviation of fuel poverty. We have not yet taken decisions on the shape and role of future programmes in this area. However, when we take decisions we will discuss any proposals with the Scottish Executive Fuel Poverty Forum and other interested parties.

Fuel Poverty

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals to develop its commitment to alleviate fuel poverty by 2007 will be considered by the Fuel Poverty Forum.

Malcolm Chisholm: Scottish ministers have committed in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to eradicate fuel poverty as far as reasonably practicable by 2016. We are currently reviewing the Fuel Poverty in Scotland report and will discuss any proposals with the Scottish Executive Fuel Poverty Forum as well as with the public through a consultation paper.

G8 Summit

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11118 by Mr Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004 regarding the hosting of the G8 Summit, what extra funding is available to Tayside Police to assist in managing the summit.

Cathy Jamieson: Additional funding will be made available to Tayside Police in connection with policing the G8 Summit in 2005 and a group involving representatives from UK Government departments, Tayside Police and the Executive has been set up to monitor and assess the additional policing costs incurred. That group’s conclusions will inform the level of additional funding provided. However, at this stage it is too early to say what the amount of this extra funding will be.

Justice

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for any delays in its response to the McInnes Report on the review of summary justice.

Cathy Jamieson: There are no "delays" in responding. The report makes wide ranging and radical recommendations. A significant number of responses to the consultation were received and it is important to consider carefully before we arrive at any conclusions.

Justice

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that lay justice provides a mechanism for community involvement in the judicial process.

Cathy Jamieson: Lay justices dealt with over 37,000 cases in 2002. This is a significant contribution to our criminal justice system. We are currently considering the responses to the consultation on the future of Summary Justice. Appropriate community involvement will be a key consideration as we develop plans for the future.

Justice

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the report of the Short-Term Working Group on Outstanding Warrants.

Cathy Jamieson: I am publishing the report of the working group today. The group identified and considered in detail a number of issues relating to warrants within the Scottish criminal justice system, including prisoner releases from courts. The report makes 20 recommendations addressed to various parts of the criminal justice system and sets out an action plan for their implementation. The report also acknowledges the significant proportion of warrants that relate to fines enforcement, and the impact that the recommendations of the Summary Justice Review Committee would have. We will keep the warrants system under review to identify any improvements that can be made. Copies of the report have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34316).

MMR Vaccine

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many school pupils in Angus, whose parents gave consent for their immunisation as part of the Angus community child health school immunisation programme but who have not been immunised, were recorded as "consent form not returned" in the academic year 2003-04.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information is not held centrally. Immunisation will only be given when consent from a parent or guardian has been obtained first.

Meat Industry

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department towards the cessation of the Over Thirty Months scheme.

Ross Finnie: There have been developments in the arrangements for the Over Thirty Months Scheme. I will write to the member to explain the position.

Meat Industry

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making towards ending the Over Thirty Months (OTM) Scheme.

Ross Finnie: In July 2004, the Food Standards Agency advised Scottish ministers that it would be acceptable, on grounds of low risk to consumers and proportionality, to replace the OTM Rule with BSE testing for OTM cattle born on or after 1 August 1996 subject to putting a robust testing regime in place. The Food Standards Agency advice was based on a rigorous independent risk assessment which was agreed by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee.

  The OTM rule was introduced at a time when BSE posed a significant risk to UK consumers and it has been an effective component of our BSE controls. The risk has been greatly reduced and is now at a very low level. Scottish ministers and ministers in others part of the UK have accepted the agency’s advice and agreed a managed transition from the OTM Rule to a robust BSE testing system for cattle aged over thirty months and born on or after 1 August 1996. These cattle would be admitted into the food chain only when the agency has advised that a robust BSE testing system is in place with clear lines of accountability and when a public information and consultation exercise has been undertaken, in order to maintain a high level of consumer protection and confidence. The main public health protection measure – the removal of specified risk material – has been and will continue to be rigorously enforced by the Meat Hygiene Service.

  vCJD is a dreadful disease. I and other ministers pay tribute to the courage of the families who have been tragically affected by it. We consider the protection of the public from this devastating condition to be of paramount importance. The Executive and other UK administrations have made great efforts to control BSE in cattle. In the UK, over 37,000 clinical cases were confirmed in 1992 compared with 186 clinical cases last year; in Scotland, the equivalent figures are 1,850 for 1992 (2,208 for 1993) and five for 2003. This reduction is expected to continue, and the Executive and other UK Administrations will continue to work towards the complete eradication of BSE.

  I and other ministers have also agreed that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) should be responsible for the on-going audit and review of the testing system, and that the final switch from the OTM Rule to BSE testing should only happen when the agency has advised ministers that the testing regime is robust. This role in relation to testing will be in addition to the agency’s continuing responsibility, as an independent body set up to protect the public’s health and consumer interests in relation to food, for monitoring developments and advising on the scientific evidence on the food-borne BSE risk to consumers.

  In advising on the robustness of testing, the agency will be assisted by a group of independent experts which includes experts in food safety and consumer affairs. This group will take into account recent failings in current testing arrangements, including in relation to casualty cattle.

  The FSA will be conducting a full public consultation on draft legislation to replace the OTM rule by testing for OTM cattle born after July 1996. The timing of any changeover will be dependent on the agency advising ministers that it is satisfied that the testing regime is robust and on other matters such as amendments to legislation and the recruitment of additional Meat Hygiene Service staff. This will take until the latter half of next year.

  Ministers have also agreed that it would be desirable for the ban on OTM imports to be lifted at the same time as the domestic OTM Rule, and that every effort should be made to accelerate the lifting of the EU restrictions on UK beef exports. Before export restrictions can be eased, there will need to be a further inspection visit from the EU’s Food and Veterinary Office to check our BSE controls and our testing arrangements, a proposal from the European Commission to amend EU legislation, and agreement by other EU member states. This is likely to take until late next year.

National Parks

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what areas are being considered for designation as national parks in the next 10 years.

Lewis Macdonald: We are committed to managing and protecting Scotland’s most valuable natural assets. Section 2(2) of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 sets out the conditions that must apply before any area can be considered for designation as a National Park. Scotland’s first two national parks were established in 2002 and 2003.

  Scottish Natural Heritage undertook a consultation exercise in 1999 which informed the Executive’s decisions on national park designations. The consultation sought views on a number of areas which might benefit from national park designation. The conclusion was that consideration of any new proposal should not take place until there had been an adequate opportunity to evaluate the experience from the first two national park designations.

  Our partnership agreement gave a commitment to consult on the best strategy for protecting and enhancing all of Scotland’s coastline, including the options of establishing a national coastline park and marine national parks. That commitment was taken forward in our consultation paper Developing a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Marine Environment (paper 2004/6 published April 2004) copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32159). Responses to that consultation paper are currently being considered.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional full-time police officers could be employed for £18 million per year.

Cathy Jamieson: The cost of employing a constable, including salary, pension, national insurance and equipment, ranges from £33,000 for a probationary constable to around £43,000 as constables progress up the salary scale. Based on these figures, the numbers of constables that could be employed for £18 million would range from around 420 to around 545. However, because the figures given do not include on-going training, supervision and infrastructure costs, including the costs of senior officers, the numbers would in practice be lower.

Police

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have left the police force in each year since 1997, broken down by constabulary.

Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is shown in the following table.

  

Police Force
1997-98
1998-99
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04


Central Scotland
31
25
24
33
29
26
18


Dumfries and Galloway 
10
18
17
19
20
17
13


Fife
30
38
45
37
34
39
32


Grampian
57
52
58
58
44
63
44


Lothian and Borders
87
108
91
103
128
119
106


Northern
27
19
32
29
30
23
36


Strathclyde
276
250
284
291
303
282
309


Tayside
47
39
51
47
53
46
51


Scotland
565
549
602
617
641
615
609



  Source: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Annual Statistical Return from police forces.

Police

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken in the last year to support the activities of the Scottish police service in tackling crime motivated by homophobia and how it intends to proceed in this regard over the next year.

Cathy Jamieson: Whilst the Scottish Police service deals with all types of crime, it is for individual chief constables to determine the deployment of the resources at their disposal to meet local needs and priorities. The police recognise the importance of providing an environment where individuals feel confident about reporting any homophobic incidents and most forces now have, for example, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender policies either published or in the final stages of development.

  The working group on hate crime submitted its report in October 2004. One of the group’s recommendations is for the introduction of a statutory aggravation for crimes motivated by malice or ill-will towards an individual based on their sexual orientation or transgender identity. The Executive is currently considering the report.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hours on average each adult prisoner spent on (a) education, broken down by (i) literacy, (ii) numeracy and (iii) other education-related activities, (b) exercise, (c) vocational work and (d) community work in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The information is not available.

  The Scottish Prison Service has recorded over the past four years the number of prisoner learning hours delivered to prisoners. This data, which includes young offenders, is set out below.

  

Period
Prisoner Learning Hours


2000-01
225,000


2001-02
307,222


2002-03
415,699


2003-04
429,465



  Education, like other prisoner activities, is available to prisoners to undertake on a voluntary basis. Due to this and the fact that there are nearly 35,000 receptions into SPS prisons each year, many repeat offenders, SPS consider it would be misleading to compare these hours with the average prison population over the year.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in recording allegations and incidents of threatening and intimidating behaviour of staff towards prisoners; how such incidents are broken down for statistical analysis, and how many such incidents there were in the last five years for which figures are available.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS collects information which it believes necessary for the running of an effective competitive business. To that end, we carefully collect and publish annually in our annual reports (which are available at www.sps.gov.uk), information such as that on serious assaults and other Key Performance Indicators. We are proud of the fact that allegations of threatening and intimidating behaviour are very rare in the SPS. The published Annual Report from the Prison Complaints Commissioner for 2003-04 recorded 18 complaints to the commissioner about staff and staff treatment. Figures prior to this were not collected but will be in the future.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many certificates it has issued to Reliance personnel under section 114 and Schedule 6 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Four hundred and thirty-one.

Rehabilitation

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what specific funding it will provide to help reintegrate prisoners at the end of their sentence while safeguarding the community and what percentage of this funding will be allocated for (a) re-integrating prisoners and (b) safeguarding the community.

Cathy Jamieson: An additional £2 million is being invested in statutory throughcare services and an additional £1.5 million in voluntary assistance, bringing the total budget to £6 million in 2005-06. The extra resources support the enhanced throughcare strategy prepared by the Tripartite Group, comprising the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), the Association of Directors of Social Work, which has the twin aims of increasing public protection and reducing reoffending through the better reintegration of prisoners on their release. This is in addition to work which the SPS does with a range of external agencies and partners to facilitate the throughcare of prisoners returning to the community.

Sex Offenders

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many sexual offences prevention orders have been granted by each sheriff court in each year since their introduction, broken down into persons who were already on the Sex Offenders’ Register and those who were not.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information, which is by police force area, is given in the following table. All of the offenders were subject to registration prior to application for the Order except where indicated.

  Number of Sex Offender Orders/Sex Offender Prevention Orders Granted1 

  

Police Force Area
1999 to 30 April 20042
1 May 2004 to 10 Nov 20043


Central4 
3
0


Dumfries and Galloway5
2
1


Fife6
3
0


Grampian7
6
0


Lothian and Borders8
3
2


Northern
7
0


Strathclyde9
4
2


Tayside
3
0



  Notes:

  1. Excludes interim orders.

  2. Orders under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

  3. Orders under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

  4. One of the offenders was not subject to registration prior to application for the order.

  5. One order in 1999 and two in 2004.

  6. One order each in 1999, 2002 and 2004. One of the offenders was not subject to registration prior to application for the order.

  7. Two orders in 2001, one in 2002, one in 2003 and two in 2004.

  8. One order in 2002, one in 2003 and three in 2004. All but one of the offenders were subject to registration prior to application for the order.

  9. Three orders in 2000 and three in 2004. All but one of the offenders were subject to registration prior to application for the Order.

Skye Bridge

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation will require to be paid to Skye Bridge Ltd when tolls are abolished on 31 December 2004.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive is committed to ending the discredited tolling regime on Skye Bridge and has entered negotiations with Skye Bridge Ltd. These negotiations are commercially confidential, and any further comment would be inappropriate at this time.

Supporting People

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether ministers or civil servants have been invited to attend a national Supporting People conference run by the Career Development Centre and, if so, who will be attending.

Malcolm Chisholm: I am not aware of any invitation having been received from the Career Development Centre.